Biesenblog

Insights on Communication, Storytelling and Presentation Skills

Such sad news this weekend. Josh Brent, a Dallas Cowboys football player, got into an accident that killed his best friend. On one hand, it’s another all-too-ordinary story of a drunk driving fatality. But something extraordinary happened. Something you hardly ever see when an individual or a company is accused of a crime. Brent immediately […]

I honestly don’t know how some social media “stars” keep up with it — tweeting, blogging, Facebooking constantly throughout the day. I’m fortunate to work for myself, and on days when I’m not in meetings or on a hot deadline, I can keep up okay. But in the past couple of months I’ve been traveling […]

SNL producer Lorne Michaels once famously said, “We don’t go on [the air] because we’re ready, we go on because it’s 11:30.” I cited that in my book as a lesson for business: big public events drive accountability. Too often it’s easy to let deadlines slide, but when you’re standing up in front of shareholders […]

Marketing, of course, is all about knowing your audience. And there’s probably nothing that takes more sensitivity than marketing to families who have lost a loved one. This is a solicitation I received promoting video/photography services at Arlington National Cemetery, where my father will be buried next month. I can’t figure out if it offends […]

LinkedIn Answers is a pretty neat tool. People post questions on certain topics, like PR or Writing, and the LinkedIn universe offers answers. It’s a great way to get your questions answered and it’s useful for people who want to position themselves as experts (and enjoy the karmic benefits of helping others). Sometimes people post […]

I’ll be on the radio this morning (Thursday the 26th) talking Act Like You Mean Business on All Sides with Ann Fisher (WOSU Columbus Public Radio). We’ll be going for an hour and taking questions from callers. You can listen online and hear some of the best lessons from the book brought to life. Tune in at […]

Why do we tend to blame ourselves first? I’m at an offsite workshop for a couple of days and yesterday a fellow participant mentioned to the group where he went to college. It happens to be an ACC school, something you don’t often hear in these parts (the Midwest). So, being a UVa. alum, I […]

I am far from a social media expert, but there are three things Twitter users do that drive me insane and that absolutely violate fundamental principles of good communication. 1. Auto Tweets I understand it’s an efficient way for busy people to schedule out their tweets over the course of a day, but it’s important […]

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a little tired of being told what to do. Just this morning before breakfast I had more than 100 people giving me advice via articles and blog posts in my RSS feeds, email subscriptions, LinkedIn and Facebook. (And that’s not including Twitter.) The Dos and Don’ts of This and […]

There’s quite the tempest going on at my alma mater, the University of Virginia. And they don’t seem to be handling it well. The school’s president has been essentially ousted by the Board with seemingly no notice and little explanation. Apparently she was well respected by the faculty and popular with students and everyone is […]